Shit like this is why the #BROSR plays AD&D1e better than Gary and the other Grognards. We know that this is not contradictatory.
I figured out how the Bard works a while back.
- Human Version
- Roll as Fighter
- Level up, ensuring you have Dexterity requirement for Dual Class by no later than 7th level
- Switch from Fighter to Thief
- Level as Thief, ensuring you meet Bard requirements by no later than 8th level (this includes finding a Druid trainer)
- Swap to Bard
Half-Elf Version
- Roll up Fighter/Thief
- Level up Fighter first, ignoring Thief, until you hit desired Fighter level; you can choose to NOT level up when you are eligible, but XP is frozen until you do AND you still have to split XP rewards (so half is defacto wasted)
- Level up Thief next, ignoring Fighter, until your Thief level is one higher than Fighter; you need to meet Bard requirements by this point
- Swap to Bard
Unarmed vs. Armed Melee is stupid easy to figure out; you use what applies, and yes it does scale so you want to be aware of being Overborne before being Grappled and then stabbed or beaten to death/submission.
Tenkar's talking out his ass here, and he's not at all the only Boomer OSR guy who doesn't know the rules to the game he's blathering about, which is why Muh 40 Years guys have a 100% miss rate vs. the Bros.
It turns out that not only do you need to READ THE FUCKING MANUAL, but you have to APPLY WHAT YOU READ AS IT IS WRITTEN. Make flow-charts--some of the Bros have--if you need to until you get it; this is why the #BROSR keeps and publishing the receipts proving that we're right about this shit.
Gary wasn't the best technical writer, but this is not a fault of the writer- it's the fault of the reader to not comprehend what was written, since folks younger than these oldheads had no problem grokking the game, running it as instructed, and getting the results promised in the manuals.
"Gary wasn't the best technical writer, but this is not a fault of the writer- it's the fault of the reader to not comprehend what was written, ..."
ReplyDeleteI disagree.
It is his fault. 100% his fault.
The Bros were adults that went in with the expressed purpose of seeing if it would all work. (It does.)
But Gygax lost the intervening 40 Years of Hobbyists because they (Young teenagers and adults alike) glossed over the rules due to his Bad technical writing. Technical writing is an Important part of game design.
So similar to what you have written earlier: If you cannot explain it to me like I am five years old; You do not get to blame your audience when you lose them because of your bad technical writing.
Because normies will not make "flow-charts". They will not methodically apply things to see if they work. They will not slow down, go back, and re-read rules that do not make sense to them after their first pass.
They will Yeet them. With a swiftness. As has been proven time and again within the RPG hobby.
And that's not just the normies; it's the overwhelming majority of hobbyists like Tenkar as well.